The Tragedies of Lust and Love
by Ophelia Sangre
Summary: A dramatic look at the desire and tension built up between the members of our heroic party during their fight to restore Ashe to the throne in Dalmasca.
1. A Pleasant Surprise?

Chapter 1

I don't own any of the characters or places from FF 12, you know. Hope the story is enjoyable!

A Pleasant Surprise?

Another city, another tavern; it was all the same anyway, right?

How long was Balthier planning on traveling with the Dalmascans anyway? The thought of going back to his life prior to Vaan and the others seemed unappealing now. The world surely had gone mad when HE, Balthier the sky pirate was unable to fly alone.

For a long time now Balthier struggled to come to terms with Vaan and Penelo's involvement in helping the Princess Ashe and former Captain Basch in their efforts to restore Dalmasca to its former glory. Well not so much Penelo. She seemed to have gotten involved because of Vaan, and stayed involved because of Vaan. He often thought it might have to do with being Dalmascan or maybe to avenge his deceased brother, but that just didn't seem quite it. Vaan seemed to seek adventure or strife, he wasn't sure which yet. These thoughts however only led the man to question his own part in the whole mess, which, as of late, had begun to falter.

The sky pirate downed his mug of beer in an attempt to do away with such thoughts. He scanned the noisy Sandsea to find his companions, half-bored gaze flickering from one person to another. Lady Ashe and Basch sat ever serious at a table on the second floor of the place discussing something unknown to him. Occasionally he tired of the Lady Ashe's dismal attitude and the Captain's boring manner of doing things. Sure he was Captain Basch Von Ronsenburg but the man was so stuffy.

He turned to see Penelo whirling about gracefully to the singing of one of her female friends, surrounded by clapping drunks cheering them on. Larsa sat among the men, a bit flustered, but whether it was on account of the sots surrounding him or Penelo's dancing Balthier was unsure.

Fran was back on the Strahl; she'd said the "noise of the humes" was not pleasant to her ears and if she could avoid it that'd be preferable. He was sympathetic though, she put up with the screeching of his world enough as it was.

Peculiarly, Vaan was nowhere to be seen. Balthier slowly rose from his barstool, leaving the barkeep a tip, and stumbled over to the crowd surrounding Penelo.

"Lovely dancing dear, but have you seen Vaan this fine night?" he tried to keep his tone bored and his face uninterested but if that failed he could always blame his curiosity on the alcohol.

Several men frowned and gave him dirty looks for distracting their entertainment but she answered him, oblivious.

"Oh! I was having so much fun that…no I haven't seen him since…god, afternoon or so. Do you think he's alright? Maybe I should go look for him…he usually hangs around when we're all together…" Worry was etched into her pale face until Balthier put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"No worries, Penelo. I only asked out of boredom, those two aren't much company," he motioned to the Princess and Basch, eliciting a giggle from her and a smile from Larsa, "so you and Larsa should enjoy yourselves! I'll go look for him, we're big boys; we can handle ourselves."

Penelo laughed a little sheepishly at that, "Of course Balthier. I suppose you should try looking for him in Lowtown, he may be there."

He nodded his thanks at her and as he walked away she resumed her swinging and swaying to the sound of clapping and the bar once again sparked to life.

"Lowtown…? What the hell could that mean…?" Balthier mumbled to himself.

Just his luck to be stumbling through the streets of Rabanastre, intoxicated, looking for Vaan in a place he'd never even heard of. Not to mention it was rather late and all the kindly citizens were asleep like the good people they were.

After a few minutes of unfruitful searching for "lowtown" a friendly Bangaa explained that it was below the city and pointed out the stairs leading to it, adding that even long-time citizens of Rabanastre had trouble finding the elusive stairs.

Once beneath the ground, Balthier had no idea where to begin searching for Vaan and decided he was in no state of mind to go adventuring tonight.

He sat in an empty alley, enjoying the dimness of Lowtown and thinking aloud.

"Maybe if I just sit here for awhile…Vaan will… stumble upon me. That sounds like a good plan."

Seconds passed before Balthier's third and fourth round of alcohol hit him. His head was spinning and the world got a tad dizzier. He was glad to be sitting at this point in time. It was even nice how this young man had come to stand in front of him and keep him company, a nice quiet companionship. He was content with admiring the youth's tanned, chiseled chest as he waited for Vaan.

Wait.

Bare-chested, tanned youth?

His gaze drifted up to the boy's face to find familiar blonde locks and devious garnet eyes staring back into his own amber ones. Vaan held a large bottle in his right hand. It was filled with clear liquid, presumably alcohol.

"Well look who's happened upon me on this fine night? None other than the infamous Balthier, sky pirate extraordinaire! What are you doing drunk in an alley?" His voice was light and teasing, eyes shining with mischief. What was he about to get into?

Balthier could not remember his slurred reply to the blonde, only thinking over exactly how many times he really had been drunk in abandoned alleys. More than the average man is all he could come up with. However, he did remember (slightly) an abandoned shack, tattered and blue, with a table in the center. He recalled lying on the surprisingly clean carpet with Vaan, drinking whatever Vaan had given him. He deduced that the tanned street rat was a lightweight concerning hard liquor (for it could not have been anything else) and he speculated on whether the blonde had only drunk to impress a certain sky pirate.

Past these things Balthier could summon nothing from his memories of the previous night.

So, under aforementioned conditions, anyone would be at least slightly confused to wake up in Balthier's position.

Balthier calmly closed his eyes, counted to ten, took three deep breaths, and re-opened his eyes. Balthier had experienced many unusual things, but when he took in his surroundings for the second time that morning, he was still baffled as to what he should do next.

He found himself in a sunlit room, light glinting off of shiny and incandescent objects strewn about the comfortable room. He soon came to the realization that this was because he appeared to be in the treasure room of the palace, where he first met Vaan. All he knew was that it definitely was not the tattered blue room of the shack in Lowtown.

Next, he noticed small goose bumps running up his arms and discerned that the room was rather breezy for one without open windows. He soon concluded that this was due to the fact that he was butt naked, clothes scattered across the rug. At first, he thought this could possibly be some cruel joke Vaan was playing on him and waited for the boy to jump out of a suit of armor hysterical with laughter, but when this did not happen he noted that a reasonably tanned arm lay across his abdomen and quickly identified it as the aspiring pirate's. Upon closer inspection he observed that Vaan was bare as well.

Wonderful. It seemed he'd finally gotten some (for the first time in days) and he couldn't even remember if it was good or not. All this accompanied by a blaring hangover and worried friends to deal with later; and the day had really just begun.

Balthier sighed, squinted at the slumbering thief, and wondered why he bothered with life at times like these.


	2. A Rude Awakening

Chapter 2

Still don't own so don't sueeee.

A Rude Awakening

Vaan awoke with a screaming headache. He tried opening his eyes several times, but each resulted in jabs of pain to his already achy head. His body was chilly, but he could feel heat beneath him, so he simply snuggled into it, attempting to steal the mystery object's warmth. A loud sigh could be heard and the thing moved.

Sleepy Vaan found this odd and cracked an eye open, despite the glaring light, to see what was up with his source of heat. However, all he could make out was a soft, pale something that was warm. His hazy mind attempted to piece the clues together, not even trying the idea of it being a body, and he decided to learn more about this warm, moving, peach-colored thing. Maybe it was a giant peach-monster?

He sniffed it.

It smelled good. Peaches smell good. Therefore peach-monsters must smell good too.

He bit into it.

Balthier jumped in surprise, elbowing the boy in the face.

Vaan thought it was definitely a peach-monster.

He reached for his sword clumsily, but when he didn't find it he panicked and threw his fists at it blindly.

"What the fuck Vaan??!?!!?!?"

He looked up at it momentarily. The peach-monster was gone, and in its place stood a very naked, very irritated Balthier. He did a double-take.

Vaan's lips formed a tiny "oh" and a blush crept up his cheeks.

"Sorry, I guess I am still…umm…half-asleep." He rubbed the back of his head and tried to secretly admire Balthier's body. He was lean but not puny, and although he couldn't see the man's front side, the sky pirate had a nice round ass too.

"Just to be sure, this isn't some kind of messed up dream, is it?" Balthier said pessimistically as he searched the room for his clothes.

Vaan shook his head, "How would I reply if it was?"

Balthier chuckled to himself as he slipped into his trousers.

"You might profess your undying love for me, or you may turn into a bagoly, or you may sing something odd like: 'Come on in, and pull yourself up a chair (like Chairry!)  
Let the fun begin, it's time to let down your hair!' "

Vaan laughed with Balthier, half because that was the weirdest thing Balthier had ever thought up, half because they were overcome with the weirdness of the whole situation. After their laughter faded away, Vaan became aware of his own nudity and unceremoniously tried to hide it.

Balthier was a bit surprised by this; he'd always thought Vaan was overflowing with self-confidence.

"Ok Vaan," he began as he arranged the cuffs of his shirt, "do you remember any of last night?"

Vaan's eyes became serious and for a second he forgot his shame and relayed his story.

_Vaan strolled through Lowtown humming. He'd had a good day so far. He'd appropriated 300 gil off a fat Imperial on break in Migelo's and Old Dalan had rewarded him with a bottle of liquor for running errands. _

_He smirked to himself, wondering who to share his treat with. Penelo was a definite no. Not only was his childhood friend against him drinking, but she'd probably be with Larsa all night, and he had prude written all over. Next there was Ashe. Although Vaan thought he'd enjoy getting wasted with the former princess (she needed to loosen up), he doubted she'd get drunk with anyone, much less him. He also didn't want her thinking ill of him._

_Then there was Basch, who probably drank occasionally, but not in the presence of Ashe. He was very curious to what Basch would be like drunk though; the man was normally so…rigid. That left Fran and Balthier. He puzzled over how Fran might act if she was intoxicated and mumbled to himself about how nice that could turn out but decided that even if Viera were capable of getting trashed; their tolerance would be really high. He wanted to enjoy himself, not worry that he was being an idiot. That left Balthier, who appeared to be the perfect candidate for his little search. But if the pirate had gone with Fran back to the airship, he was probably doing the nasty with the amazon woman. Vaan sulked into an alley, intending on getting too hammered to care._

"_How depressing."_

_As he was about to plop onto the ground, he caught a familiar face. _

"_Balthier?" He was cautiously hopeful._

_The sky pirate didn't seem to have heard him. For a minute or so he just stood there in front of the man until Balthier looked up into his eyes and recognized that the boy before him was Vaan._

_Vaan's spirits had been lifted by this lucky turn of events and he clicked his tongue ring against his teeth happily before saying, "Well look who's happened upon me on this fine night? None other than the infamous Balthier, sky pirate extraordinaire! What are you doing drunk in an alley?"_

_The man gaped at him for a few seconds before spitting out, _

"_It was a whim of the leading man."_

_Vaan laughed at this. Even drunk the man before him was Balthier. Shortly after their meeting, Vaan convinced Balthier that he could handle some hard liquor and led the flushed man to an abandoned shack with blue walls._

Vaan had remembered clearly up to this point, but after that all his memories were blurs. Balthier sighed and rubbed his temples. As if Vaan hadn't already posed enough of a problem.

Vaan hadn't said anything about sex however. That could be good. Even if he didn't remember sex, surely his ass would hurt horribly.

Although, after reflecting on this, if Balthier had woken up with a sore ass he probably wouldn't have mentioned it either. There were just too many possibilities with the situation at hand.

"Balthier? Are you listening?" Vaan interrupted Balthier's mental detective work rudely. He was no longer sitting on the floor looking cute, but now rummaging around the room, still naked, possibly looking for something.

"Have you seen my clothes…?" the boy continued a little sheepishly when he had Balthier's attention.

Walking through Rabanastre in an Imperial's suit of armor was now ranked pretty high up on Vaan's "never do again" list. After he'd announced the absence of his clothing, Balthier had had the bright idea of knocking out a guard in the palace and stealing his armor. Why hadn't he suggested a servant instead?

Getting out of the royal palace was trickier than they had anticipated and he was slightly shorter than the average Archadian Imperial.

In any case, the worst part was after they escaped the palace. The citizens of Rabanastre were not fond of Imperials and often the two got sneers and even a couple of bold children tried to pickpocket the two. Vaan only chuckled to himself at that, remembering his days on the street, but when he found his stolen pouch of gil empty he cursed the brats.

When the two arrived back at the Strahl they were relieved. This gladness, unfortunately for them, was short-lived. As they boarded they were met by the whole party and a seething princess.

"FINALLY! I had begun to think the Empire had apprehended the two of you. It's nearly evening! All of us here have been worried, where have you been all day? You have much explaining to do. Vaan, what is that armor? Did you two get into trouble with the Imperials?"

The woman could go on forever. Balthier sighed as she ranted and snatched a glance at his partner in crime. He was a little surprised to find a disheartened look on the boy's face. His delicate features had guilt written clearly across them. Balthier felt not a bit of guilt. Pirates do what they want, when they want, how they want. This was his fucking ship! Not even a princess could bitch at him here.

Basch began to try and calm the Lady Ashe and Penelo inched to Vaan's side, avoiding the dragon queen, to tell the thief how worried she had been and how glad she was he was back. He apologized (of course) in a small voice. Well, small for Vaan.

Larsa remained silent, knowing the whole thing was really none of his business anyway. How princely. Fran only raised a curved, curious eyebrow at her partner and departed the room to start the ship.

Lady Ashe had calmed a bit, but seeing that she would get nothing out of Balthier did not stop her from interrogating young Vaan.

"Vaan, just tell me what happened. I was only worried." She looked him dead in the eyes, crimson met sapphire.

"Well…I was out…and then I ran into Balthier, we were just…"

Balthier knew he would never find the words to tell the princess what had transpired this morning, much less last night. But Vaan couldn't lie to her either. If he wasn't so hung over this would be slightly entertaining. However, this put Vaan in a bit of a pickle.

Balthier, being the kindly gentleman he was, stepped forward and saved Vaan's ass, "Excuse me Princess, but kindly speaking, when did our whereabouts and activities become your business? We are old enough to be out all day without having to listen to this. He's apologized for worrying everyone and I believe that's enough. We have kingdoms to save, so I think it best if you drop the subject."

He sighed and patted Ashe on the shoulder before heading off to a dark, quiet corner of the Strahl. Ashe's stunned face was priceless. It took everything the sky pirate had to restrain himself from chuckling.


	3. A Midsummer Night's Dream

Ch. 3

"Vaan! Vaan, we're leaving for the Salika Woods tomorrow. I know you've had a rough day and all but you really should stock up before we go."

Penelo's voice rang through the thick metal door and pierced Vaan's sleeping ears. He grimaced and held his head in his hand for a moment before whining back a reply,

"Why? Can't I just sleep? We can buy from a vendor around there or something…"

Her voice quieted some, "Oh we're walking, remember? We can't fly the Strahl into the Empire. You're so thick Vaan."

He heard her light footsteps receding and flopped back down into the sheets of his bed. He remembered the semi-fight Balthier and Ashe had had earlier and groaned. That had probably been one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. What if she found out what had happened? She'd be disappointed and then he'd never have a chance with her.

He wondered if she was angry that he'd delayed her quest and their journey to Archades. Sometimes he felt extremely out of place with the party. He was only a common thief among royalty, infamous pirates, and famous war generals. He felt the day he'd stolen the dusk shard and met Balthier and Fran was the luckiest day of his life. If it weren't for then, he'd still be running errands for Migelo and dreaming of flying through blue skies.

Vaan finally stood and stretched his arms above his head, yawning.

"Tomorrow begins a long fucking walk" he groaned to himself sullenly, pulling his new boots on. All his new clothes felt a little small or a little big but at least they smelled good. His last pair of boots had gone through several carcasses before. Mainly smelly dead wolves. Blech.

He finished making himself presentable and headed down to the Muthru Bazaar to pick up some supplies. Maybe someone would be selling an awesome new sword.

He picked his way through the colorful, noisy crowd in the bazaar and found himself at the hunter Clan Centurio's vendor. The vendor sold items to you by rank he was only a Riskbreaker so he picked out a couple special items and moved on.

Old habits die hard, and as Vaan strutted through the bazaar his sticky fingers pocketed twelve high potions, eight phoenix downs, 3 antidotes, and a golden amulet. The amulet was a gift for Ashe. He briefly recalled the first time he'd seen Rassler's ghost in the Tomb of Raithwall. At that time, his first thought was how gay the man's armor was. It was rude but true; and whenever he tried to do nice things for Ashe, he imagined her comparing him to Rassler in the flaming armor.

Vaan laughed at his own joke and decided to stop at Migelo's before heading back to the Strahl. He'd had Old Dalan drop off the payment for his last errand there, and he wanted it for this trip.

The group had made surprisingly good time under Ashe's lead, and by only their second day of walking they were past the Nalbina Fort and well into the Mosophran Highwaste.

The wayfarers were exhausted though, their pace was inhuman and even the leader of the trip (Ashe) was resting next to a bubbling spring in the Babbling Vale. Somewhere along the road here (most likely Nalbina) Larsa had left the party to return to Archades, but since that was the party's ultimate goal he was sure they'd see the effeminate boy again.

Penelo had been gazing into nowhere lately and Balthier began to suspect a relationship between the young girl and the Archadian prince. Although Vaan and Penelo were only friends, even Balthier had taken them as more than that upon meeting the blonde girl.

In fact it had been most surprising to Balthier when Penelo's attention turned so quickly toward Larsa. Balthier knew the pink cheeked little angel was more deviant than she'd have the others believe from personal experience and he was sure Vaan was no stranger to Penelo's whims either. As he gazed at the girl fawning over innocent little Larsa he recalled a very steamy night on beaches of the Phon coast.

_That night the stars had twinkled in the sky a little more brightly, the moon a little more full than normal, and the air thick and humid. Everyone was sticky from the day's travels and though the sun had sunk beneath the glittering ocean waves the night air was mercilessly suffocating and warm._

_After a quiet and mostly awkward dinner with little in the way of conversation_ _Ashe and Basch retired to the hunter's camp Vaan had squealed about all morning. He hadn't shut the hell up for hours because he was so excited to see the ocean for the first time. Penelo had held her anticipation in quietly, why'd Vaan have to gush on forever? Unabashedly the street rat had also bragged to Ashe about showing up all the hunters in the supposed camp, completely unaware of how indiscrete his romantic efforts actually were. However the hunt did hold a special interest to the energetic adolescent, he happened to be a surprisingly competent fighter. It went to his head though, he was always boasting of his feats to enamored idiots in the clan hall. _

_As the moon rose higher into the clouds the night grew darker and eventually even the animated thief was slouching in the sand, fast asleep. Fran, Balthier, and Penelo laughed at Vaan's expense before Fran volunteered to transport the brat back to the camp. Penelo thanked her graciously._

_In the moonlight Penelo's blonde hair appeared white and her skin porcelain. Balthier had never really looked at Penelo as a woman before, but taking in her figure he could see that she was slightly curvy, though not as busty as Fran. She was more petite than Ashe and it had made him want to cradle her tiny body against his. Everything about her had seemed so pure and virginal; he'd almost toppled over when he stirred from his musings to really glimpse the girl before him. As Balthier had flown to fantasy world his impulsive desires were becoming a reality in front of him. The orphaned angel was kneeling before him, topless, reaching to hold his face and devour his lips._

_From then on he knew she was no angel. She was as human and carnivorous as he, and he gladly satisfied her strong appetite without a second thought._

Balthier shook off thoughts of her soft skin and supple lips, feeling a little guilty in his silence, because of course no one knew of their tryst that night. He'd known by the glazed over look in her eyes that night that their union was one of passion, nothing more. He hoped that with these new feelings for the Archadian prince Penelo would find a deeper connection that she so desperately needed, but really he knew reality's cold fingers would bring both lovesick puppies back to the earth. They were from different worlds. Incompatible worlds.

He wondered about the age difference between Penelo and Larsa for a few seconds before laughing to himself a little. He was not so different from Larsa once, in love with an older woman; or well, a viera; once upon a time anyway. Then again he found himself in Penelo's position today; infatuated with a child. Life is indeed cruel sometimes.

Why couldn't he fall in love with Ashe or something? She was a beautiful woman and everything. He tried picturing it but simply couldn't imagine being involved with her. Sure it'd be fun on adventures, but wait till she becomes Queen of Dalmasca. Then there'd be boundaries and titles and all those horrible things. Besides, she was a little spoiled sometimes. He guessed that was normal for princesses.

Balthier sighed for the hundredth time that day.

"Careful Balthier; wouldn't want to let your mind wander during battle. The monsters are tough today; I would not wish you to be injured." Fran's quiet voice shook him away from his thought for the moment.

"Of course."

He'd always been attracted to Fran's detached demeanor and the mystery that hung about her. But he loved that she was still kind and caring in her own little ways. Not to mention she was a knockout.

He fought off devious thoughts and prepared to leave, the Salika Woods were about a half-a-day away.


	4. Trembling Hands Weave Disaster

Chapter 4

I don't own characters.

Trembling Hands Weave Disaster

Balthier was fuming. Past fuming, he was furious. He butchered the pumpkin head before him that was preparing an attack on Penelo. He wanted to shout but those damned pumpkin heads!

Silence was one of the ailments the sky pirate hated the most. The only way this could be any worse, was if he was suddenly –

"Balthier, look out!" Penelo's girlish shrill hit his ears a moment too late, and in that moment, Balthier's world went black.

He hated those goddamned pumpkin heads.

The brunette struck blindly at his attacker, wishing he'd learned the technick Vaan had stolen from the shop in Rabanastre; had something to do with an attack specifically for blind people. After three misses and one hit he heard a body hitting the rotting wood of Salika Wood's ancient paths. He sincerely hoped it was a pumpkin head.

He felt forward with his pole and finally found something that felt slightly squishy.

"Shit Balthier!" Vaan panted. He must've been fighting his own pumpkin. He continued poking in other directions.

"Balthier the pumpkin head is dead! Come over here and help me kill this King Malboro."

Balthier stood still. He wasn't about to go and get poisoned too.

"Come on Balthier! If I faint you're fucked, Penelo's out and the other's are ahead of us." Vaan sounded rather desperate. Balthier finally gave in and thanked the gods for a pole and not a gun.

Several minutes of blind jabbing passed before Vaan exclaimed them victorious. Balthier stood still, waiting for Vaan to heal him and give him some eye drops. He knew a spell to cure silence but that was real help when he couldn't cast spells. Not that it mattered, even if the two were out of potions, Vaan was quite proficient in healing and magick, oddly enough. He waited but the spells never came. Had Vaan ditched him in favor of treating Penelo first?

He poked around with his pole but stopped because he felt like an old man when he did that.

"Balthier?"

_Finally._

"Ok, I just went through my pack and I don't have anything. I even went through Penelo's stuff. Do you have anything?"

_Yea asshole, that's why I'm just standing here, using my pole as a cane. _

Balthier tried his hardest to send that last thought to Vaan using telepathy but it wasn't working so well.

"Shit…ok….ummm…"

_That sounds like a wonderful plan Vaan. Heal me already! What is he waiting for?_

He tried his hardest to send Vaan that thought too.

"You think you can carry Penelo?"

Apparently Balthier's hardest wasn't enough.

He sighed mentally and kneeled on one knee, hopefully signaling to Vaan that, yes, he was able to carry Penelo.

Vaan got the message this time. He perched Penelo on the pirate's waiting back and Balthier stood, eager to find Fran and have her heal him.

"Ok…where to next…" He heard Vaan mutter to himself. This was very discomforting news to Balthier.

After almost falling to the floor of the Salika Woods countless times and dropping poor Penelo once or twice, the sky-pirate and thief happened upon a little forest house. Several days earlier a bunch of lazy moogles had been sitting in it. Balthier wished the craftsmen were still there now.

"Ok, walking around has helped, I have enough strength to heal you now, but…" He heard Vaan and quickly realized the brat could be up to something. He tried to make his face look menacing but upon hearing the lightness in the brazen boy's voice he realized the face, however scary, had only encouraged the little devil.

"Now Balthier, I've been thinking a lot lately and, well, I'm really curious about…you know…that time in the treasure room at the palace." He could feel the blush rolling off of Vaan's person. It was curious how Vaan tried to act all macho and tough when underneath his facade was a gullible, inexperienced boy who probably acted more suave than he felt. Balthier suspected the street rat was even a virgin. Well, unless some rather unholy events had taken place several days ago. Why did he have to be so attractive?

He smirked despite himself. He definitely hadn't seen this one coming. He set his things down softly and felt for a wall to slide down into a sitting position. Once comfortable, he waited.

_Better to settle this now than later. He probably wants to confirm that it was just two men being drunk and get on with life. _

Balthier imagined Vaan as someone who was very uncomfortable with the idea of homosexuality and bisexuality. The pirate decided this was the perfect time to lay his own infatuations and curiosities to rest.

As he sat and waited, he wondered what was taking so damn long, the boy couldn't be that nervous. He raised a questioning brow and was about to stand when he was suddenly straddled by the street urchin and felt a tickling, warm breath at his ear.

Sparks flew up and down the pirate's spine. If Vaan was attempting to clear up any misunderstandings he was certainly going about it the wrong way.

"I just wanted to finish what we started back there…or at least continue it…cause to be honest it's nowhere near being over." Vaan's voice was thick and sultry and it was all

Balthier could do to not rip the adolescent's clothes off his solid build. Where the hell had he learned to be so damn sexy?

The teenager had most assuredly already felt the hint of excitement in Balthier and was responding with his own excitement. Only Vaan was far more excited. Where Balthier was halfway there Vaan was all the way and then some.

The thief nibbled on the pirate's ear and ran his practiced fingers through the man's hair, making it stand on end. Balthier's hesitation was quickly overridden when the boy's hot tongue stole over his bottom lip, gaining access to a passionate kiss instantly.

The blindness and silence was working for both parties by now.

For Vaan, it meant Balthier could not verbally protest, although he'd been half sure the man wouldn't anyways, he'd wanted it to be perfectly sexy and steamy. The blindness gave him an element of surprise which he intended to utilize.

For Balthier, it meant sex now, questions later. It meant every pleasure intensified by his blindness, his sense of touch heightened by the loss of sight. He writhed under the boy and stroked circles on the back of his neck and chest. He couldn't help letting his mouth curve upwards in an animalistic grin when he felt Vaan's body tense under his fingers. The practiced thief's hands had managed to skillfully strip Balthier to his white undershirt when they stopped abruptly.

Balthier gasped when Vaan's fingers fluttered over a huge gash across his chest. All too quickly his sight returned as well as the ability to speak. A groan was the first thing that escaped his lips when he looked down and observed the skin around the wound was blackened, almost charred looking, and thick, crimson blood gushed out slowly. The hut shimmered green for a brief moment as Vaan attempted a healing spell that failed.

"Shit, Balthier I'm so sorry, I…shit hold on a moment. It must be cursed or…something"

He bustled to the other side of the hut where he promptly examined Penelo's pale body and mumbled a rushed spell. Balthier frowned when he saw Vaan's hand shaking violently over the other orphan's face as he tried to cast the spell to awaken the girl from unconsciousness unsuccessfully for the second time. He frantically pulled a phoenix down from his pocket before gently tilting Penelo's head and pouring the serum down her throat to no avail. His sun-kissed treasure turned panicked, maroon orbs in his direction, pleading silently that he knew what to do.

"Balthier…?"

For a moment the youth was frozen and his shaken voice trailed off, but when he realized the spark of lucidity in Balthier's eyes had faded he snapped into action, gathering his two friends and their things before casting a spell to teleport the three of them to the meeting point the party had decided on earlier.


End file.
